Oral history interview with Herman Talmadge, November 8, 1990

Herman Talmadge served as Georgia's Democratic governor from 1948 to 1955 (and a brief stint in 1947), and as that state's senator from 1957 to 1981. In this interview, he shares his opinions on integration and race relations in Georgia. Talmadge, who opposed integration, claims that he did so to avoid tensions. He maintains that had the federal government stayed out of the South, states like Georgia would have integrated slowly but surely and with significantly less strife.